


Close Call

by Spockykins



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempted Murder, Fluff and Angst, Humor, I swear, M/M, Pining, everything works out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 08:28:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16404860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spockykins/pseuds/Spockykins
Summary: Jack has a crush.Like an actual crush.What the fuck?





	Close Call

Jack had a crush. 

Yeah, Jack had a crush and it was a soft one, by his own standards. It wasn’t the lust that he felt for Nisha or Moxxi, it was an honest to god crush. 

He didn’t just wanna bone his doppleganger, he actually wanted to take him out to dinner and do more than fuck him and kick him out. 

Regardless, the stupid nerd wasn’t getting the hint. 

Originally, he had been trying to hit on him with his usual pick-up lines, but it didn’t seem to be working. If anything, it made Timothy even more nervous than he normally would feel, and that kid was a bundle of anxiety. 

So the new approach was just… being really nice. It hadn’t really been working, so far, but it was all Jack had. He couldn’t just… ask Tim out. He might feel pressured or something. Wanting to date his exact body-double felt like something that was too in character for self-love extraordinaire Handsome Jack. He had to be subtle, or Tim might get the wrong idea. 

The whole fun shit with Moxxi and the other half of the “Take Back Helios Crew” had to have been almost a year ago, now. Moxxi did her best to try and stop Jack from taking his rightful place and President of Hyperion, but it didn’t really make a difference. It was fate, at this point. Jack was meant to lead, and Hyperion was full of sheep. 

Tim, originally, was assigned to work on Elpis on and off. But everytime he was gone for longer than a month, Jack was so anxious - no, not anxious. Handsome Jack didn’t get anxious. Irritable, was the right word for it. Jack was so irritable that he was murdering so many more employees than usual that it hardly seemed worth it.   
Tim was a shit shot, anyway. 

Now, Tim was stuck with going to all of the boring, nerdy, meetings that Jack really didn't want to go to. Mostly the accounting meetings and the marketing ones. To Jack’s surprise, and secret delight, Timothy really enjoyed the marketing meetings. They didn’t focus so much on the math, often, and more focused on persuading the market and customers to purchase their weapons and technology. 

Besides, Tim figured it was probably better than almost being shot all the time. 

That’s how Jack was where he was now. Angsty, still alone, and really horny, like all the time. It was at the point where meaningless sex didn’t help anymore. He’d rather just hold Tim than have sex with any broad he wanted, which was disgusting. 

Tim frequented Jack’s office. He actually had his own, smaller office in a door branching off of his own. It was mostly because they couldn’t be seen in two places at once, so it was probably safest to keep Timothy stored away as much as possible. 

Jack stood from his desk, stretching and groaning too loudly, just so everyone knew that he was working hard and was taking a well deserved break. He made his way to Tim’s office and opened the door. If he knocked, everyone would know it’s occupied, therefore Tim had no ability to have privacy. Even if Jack wanted to give it to him. Which he kind of didn’t. 

“Oh! Hi Jack.” Tim looked up from his work with a small smile. Since their first meeting and a few years worth of meetings after that, Tim had warmed up to him. Maybe it was because he kept the murdering to a minimum around him, or maybe it was because Tim was getting to stay on the safe and well heated Helios, instead of the frozen hellscape that was Elpis. 

“Hey Timmy.” Jack sat on the edge of Tim’s already overcrowded desk. Just because Jack liked him didn’t mean he wasn’t an asshole. “Listen, I gotta thing for you to attend tonight.” 

Tim’s face fell. Thursdays were usually his nights off. They were probably spent reading and petting his cat, the nerd. “Oh? I just… Okay, I had plans tonight.” He said quietly. 

Jack’s head tilted in confusion, a weird pit forming in his gut. Jealousy, maybe. “Oh? What plans did ya have?” 

Tim blushed and looked at his feet. “A bubble bath and a movie, if I’m being honest. I suppose it can be rescheduled.” 

Jack couldn’t contain his mocking this time. “Oh gosh, Timmy, so sorry to interrupt your big night of bubble bathing. You were probably gonna fall asleep in the tub anyways, cupcake.” 

“I would not fall asleep, Jack! That’s how people drown.” He said this incredulously, but he was still smiling. 

“No, this event is something you won’t want to miss, regardless. The education department is opening a library, and they really want me, or I guess us, to show up and cut the ribbon.” Jack hadn’t finished speaking before Tim’s eyes lit up. 

“Really? I get to go?” 

“No, Tim, I really want to go cut a ribbon for some book room.” Jack scoffed. 

“Oh! That’s so exciting. Way better than a bubble bath.” 

Jack smiled. Tim was so fucking precious when he was elated like this. He wasn’t like this often, for whatever reason. Maybe he wished he could have his own career, instead of sharing Jack’s own. Regardless of the reason, the past was in the past, now. 

“It’s too bad that we had to cut Nakayama’s funding for it, though. He did so much to get us where we are today. I hope he’s not bitter about it, or anything.” 

“Except of course he is, because Nakayama is absolutely insane.” Tim pointed out carefully. 

Jack laughed and grabbed Tim’s shoulder. “Oh come on, TimTam. You can’t possibly be scared of that weird old guy, can you? You helped me open a fucking vault, for cryin’ out loud.” 

“No,” Tim stammered, “I’m not scared! I’m just saying. We should be careful.” 

“Babe. Careful is my middle fucking name.” 

 

The rest of the day went off without problems, except for one dumbass being airlocked. It was unavoidable, really. Tim wasn’t there, though, which made it better.  
As everyone near Jack’s room started to pack, Jack retired to his room and watched the live-feed of the presentation that was set-up. He watched Tim walk in, looking as handsome as ever. 

It was honestly incredible that anyone believed Tim was Jack. Not that Tim wasn’t a good actor, but he was just so much cuter than Jack was. Jack was more suave, badass, and sexy, but Tim looked like a kicked puppy if you upset him. 

Jack watched Tim sit in the front row. The lady who was hosting the event was rambling about something, but something in the corner of the screen caught his eye. It was a small, black right angle. It was covering the bottom portion of the screen. It was so slight that it could almost be a glitch, except the Helios Streaming Service (HSS), was way too good for that. There was no one standing near the camera, which made everything even more fishy. 

Tim stood up and walked to the front of the stage, waving just as Jack would. He takes it back, Tim is an extremely believable Jack. Even though they had slightly different mannerisms, Tim was a ridiculous actor who lit up the rooms he walked in, just like Jack did. 

“Hello everyone. We all know that books are for nerds, but that doesn’t mean that reading them isn’t really important.” Tim lifted up a book for an example. It was one of Jack’s own. Nice. He started to address the children in the front row. “You can’t become a smart programmer or scientist without spending lots and lots of time in the library.” 

Suddenly, the black corner overtook the screen. After a few more seconds, the audio cut. 

Impossible. There was no way Helios’s systems were down. Jack refreshed the page. 

Nothing. What the hell happened? 

He tried refreshing one more time, just as an alarm sounded. 

Fuck. Tim was in trouble. 

Without hesitation or shoes, Jack ran out the door to the elevator. He smashed the button until it arrived. Either it knew he was in a hurry and rushed to his floor, or Athena overrode it and brought it to his floor directly. Both were likely possibilities. 

Jack had his wrist guns powering up as he ran to the new location of the library. All that was on his mind was if Tim was safe, if Tim was hurt, who would dare to consider hurting Tim, who was kind and precious and everything that Jack was not. 

Except, they didn’t know that it was Tim, and not Jack. For all anyone knew, Tim didn’t exist. 

If anything happened to Tim, it would be on Jack’s head. 

He quickened his pace to a sprint. 

Jack, finally, entered the library. He shoved the door open and was greeted with a sight that made him feel sick. 

Tim was on the ground, head bleeding slightly, and a small bullet wound in his lower abdomen. 

Nakayama stood on the stage beside where Tim had fallen, and was smiling. “Hello, Jack! You're welcome.” 

Jack didn’t notice that the room had been cleared out. “What the fuck have you done?” He moved forward, not caring if Nakayama was considering shooting him. He wouldn’t. The guy was obsessed with him. Not that he could blame him. 

“What do you mean? I figured since you cut the funding, you wanted the project to be done? Or did you just want me out of the picture?” He questioned. He seemed genuinely confused. 

“You stupid fucking prick.” Jack didn’t really care much to hear more excuses. He shot Nakayama in the gut, almost the same place that Tim was shot. Neither wounds seemed to be fatal. He shot Nakayama another three, four, ten, or twenty times, just to make sure the fucker was dead. 

Jack dropped the pistol abruptly, then knelt beside Tim. He was barely awake. 

“Hey, kiddo. Stay awake, would ya?” Jack gently cupped the side of his face.

Tim groaned in pain, opening his eyes to stare up at Jack. He croaked, “I hate to say I told you so, but…” 

Jack laughed a little, unwanted tears filling the corners of his eyes. “You did tell me so…” He admitted, really not wanting to pour out his emotions. 

“I’m glad you killed him. Maybe murder is,” he cut himself of to groan in pain. “Sometimes? Okay.” 

Jack nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I love you.” 

What? 

“What?” Tim said, suddenly surprised. 

“I…” His brain frantically tried to supply a reason as to why he said that that wasn’t pouring out his emotions, just like he said he didn’t want to do. His brain had no idea. Fuck it. “Love you. I think.” 

Tim stared up at him, his mouth open a little in surprise. 

“No, I don't think. Wait, shut up. When you would go to Elpis, that was scary. And I didn’t know why until you came back and… I thought, yeah, maybe it’s because he’s hot and he looks like me, or whatever, but no, I uhh… fell in love with my TimTam who wants to take bubble baths on his night off and loves his cats and, fuck, I don’t know. If you don’t feel the same way, that’s okay, I’ll just go suck a dick or something and-”

“Ow! What the hell?” Tim had been trying to get his attention, but words clearly weren’t working. He punched Jack in the chest. 

“Sorry. You wouldn’t shut up. I uhh… like you a lot too.” 

Jack’s eyebrow rose. “You do?” 

“Yeah I don’t know if I love you yet, but I definitely like you.” Tim blushed. 

“Oh. That’s sweet. And stuff.” Jack relaxed some, feeling less tense.

“Did you run down here to make sure I was safe? They were sending security guards. Someone could have seen you. You know, coming to another Jack.” Tim leaned into Jack’s touch. Footsteps started to be audible from down the hall, most likely the aforementioned back-up. 

“It’s okay.”

“It’s okay?” Tim questioned.

“Yeah. It’s okay.”


End file.
